A one-tonne “fossil rat” has been discovered in South America.
The megarodent lived in lowland rain forests between two and four million years ago and weighed about 1,000 kilograms, based on an analysis of its 53-centimetre-long skull.
The newfound species, called Josephoartigasia monesi, is reported on Jan 16 in a study led by Andrés Rinderknecht of the National Museum of Natural History and Anthropology in Montevideo, Uruguay. [National Geographic]